Hey guys! Happy Golden Week! What's new?
Hope it's all going swimmingly for you all.
I've been doing pretty well this week, I think.
Excited for a recap?
Let's begin; I actually remember what I did on Thursday! Not so sure about Friday, but. I've at least got Thursday.
I had made plans the week before with some friends to go out to an all-you-can-eat style of Japanese food called shabu shabu. We decided Thursday after everyone finished classes would be the best day, and so once my classes were finished, I went down into the lounge to wait at the place we had all decided to meet.
Actually, that's a lie. First I went to go meet up with someone from the conversation-partner group to get interviewed to try be paired off with a conversation partner. I'll find out some time in the next couple of weeks who I got selected to be with. I'm pretty excited.
It was a short meeting, though, so after I answered her questions and had nothing really to ask in return, I went down to the lounge. Met up with a couple of people I know, and we hung out during the time that I was waiting.
It was well worth the wait. The people I went with had found a reasonably cheap restaurant of this type--at least 200 yen cheaper than anything I've seen anywhere else up to this point.
And it was so good. I made it a point to eat my money's worth, and I'd show you all pictures, but I was too busy stuffing my face to even consider taking a photo. I could eat that every day, I think. It was so good.
Here's a really pretty photo I managed just recently, though.
Friday I went to class, and then I came home and did my homework to free up my weekend for whatever I felt like. Saturday we went to Ikebukuro. A friend of mine had wanted to show me a store that had manga art supplies, which to me translated into "a bunch of artist markers that are going to be cheaper than they are in the States because they won't be imported." Also, there was more brand selection than they have back home.
Ikebukuro also had the first hamburger I've eaten since I've gotten here, and my word. It was delicious.
Walking out of the station in Ikebukuro was a bit like walking into n New York, save the fact that when we got there, it wasn't terribly busy at that point. It would get that way, though, don't worry.
Yeah. It got busy.
After we ate our burgers, we went back to the station to pick a couple of people up who had arrived late, and then we went to a store called Animate, with my beautiful markers. A mind-boggling eight stories of anime-related paraphernalia in the biggest Animate store in the country.
It also looked like a milk carton, but I didn't have the opportunity to take a photo of that.
I bought myself some markers there, since, as I said before, they're a lot cheaper here than they are in the States, and it's a brand that I've only seen Japanese people using, since I've never seen them back home.
They layer up fantastically.
After Animate, we went to the local park. It was small, but quaint, and there were lots of well-fed, harmless stray cats, which was oddly calming for me.
The plaque at the entrance to the park.
After the park, there was a trip to Starbucks and a lot of window shopping. It was fun, but dull to recount, so I'll skip over it.
Sunday I found the mother of all cheap grocery stores with some friends of mine, and what would have cost me about 4,000 yen at the local grocery store only cost me 2,500 yen there. I didn't buy absolutely everything I needed, but I re-stocked my basics and got some extras. I plan on making spaghetti some time next week.
Once I came home, I took a nap.
After class had finished on Monday, since I only have the one class, I went to Machida with a friend of mine to go examine the arcades and anime junk there. A few friends of his had shown him around earlier, when I hadn't had a chance to go, and so now it was my turn to look around.
And I must say, it was a lot of fun, but it was also incredibly overwhelming. There's so much to look at in those kinds of places! My goodness.
I found the Gundam pods, guys.
Apparently it's a simulator to make you feel as if you're actually steering one.
I want to try it so badly!
It's 300 yen a whirl, though, so I have to wait until my Japanese is better and I know what I'm doing.
I came home afterwards, though, and again, took a nap. Once I woke up, I went to a friend's room with some milk, and we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches together while I wrote out a short essay I had to turn in today [well, technically, yesterday].
Today was pretty much school, and after I'd finished my classes, I went up to visit another friend and fed her dumplings and eggrolls.
That's all that's been going on, really. I was going to update tomorrow, but I'm going to stay the night at a friend's house since we have Thursday and Friday off for the Golden Week holiday.
So, money saving?
- I can't seem to emphasize making connections enough. Without being willing to branch out from my main group of friends, I would have never found that grocery store that was nearly half-price. It's a little out of the way [so you must be willing to move around to save money, too!], but it is so worth it.
- Again, connections. Native ones this time, though, if your understanding of the official language is weak. If they're poor college students like you, they're also looking for ways to do the same thing for less money. It was because of this that we found the all-you-can-eat at such a reasonable price [the equivalent of twenty dollars versus twenty-five].
- Go out of your way and look for things. The grocery story I found is about a 30-45 minute walk away from where I live. It's far, by my standards, but saving roughly twenty dollars for enough food to feed me for a week and a half? Um, yes.
That's all I've got for now, though. I'll update you on how my break went next Wednesday.
Take care!
-RD
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